Just Getting Started

[brilayceh]

I just recently, been a few months now, decided to get into saltwater aquariums. It was a random thought I had one day that I decided to get serious about.

It's all going to take months to do as I plan to make my own tank (125 gal. - 180 gal. haven't decided), sump tank, and stand (thank Lorde for dads or all that wouldn't be a possibility) and have to save up money to do so.

I just wanted to know if anyone had any tips for me. I plan to just go in with a bang, but slowly(ish?). What I mean is I'm planning, already have a notebook half full of research, to have live rocks, anemones, live sand, all that jazz and want to make sure I do everything right. I just wanted some stories you might have from when you first started, advice, your favorite website to get stuff from.

I was also wondering what would be the best fish and cleaners to start off with. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a clownfish so just some fish that get along with that and such.

My biggest question out of all of this, WHERE DO YOU GET SUBMERGED FILTERS? I can not find them anywhere. Whats your favorite one if you have one?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Salty1962]

Welcome to R2R! I'm sure some subject experts will chime in. Good Luck and keep us posted on your tank progress.

 

[Kershaw]

I highly recommend finding a local club. I have yet to find one my self near me. I got my first 180 gal tank in a trade. I have always wanted one and the opertunity came up. At first I didn't want coral didn't even know anything about it. Now I am addicted. I met a guy on Craig's list when I was trying to sell coral out of my tank. Makes so much easier finding some one to talk to about the hobby that isn't trying to make a sale. I had no idea what I was doing just the ton of info guy I got tank from. I could not remember it all. Guy was awesome once I got into coral he gave me 10 high dollar frags and was just very helpful. Reef 2 reef is great but face to face helps allot. And to go over and see tanks in real life and see how things are done. Last bit of advice from me I have only been in this for 4 years and have not had any issues that could not be handled with the help of this site and another. Don't get discouraged, don't implulse buy, don't be closed minded. When you decide on lighting every one has what they like. I don't have a QT tank but I recommend it. I could have saved my self allot of stress. Good luck

 

[Humblefish]

My biggest question out of all of this, WHERE DO YOU GET SUBMERGED FILTERS? I can not find them anywhere. Whats your favorite one if you have one?

I'm not understanding this at all. What do you mean by submerged filters?

 

[Kershaw]

I'm not understanding this at all. What do you mean by submerged filters?

+1

 

[applejk]

I completely agree with Kershaw. Finding a local reef club will help a ton and you should be able to get a setup for a fraction of the cost of a new one. Thats where I get a majority of my livestock and dry goods from and what I can't get from there I find on here . Welcome to the world of saltwater. bulkreefsupply is also a great place to buy from as well.

 

[Diesel]

 

[badstorm48]

My local fish store has been my mentor. I go to him about everything and what's great is that he just wants you to be successful. There's so much where he could of made a buck but sent me else where cause it was cheaper. Really the only thing I get from him is fish. Other than that I get everything else from other places he recommends unless he can sell it to me cheaper with his discount. If it wasn't for him I prob would of been very unsuccessful. I'm very new myself and have a 40 gallon breeder that I'm about to start getting fish into.

To answer some questions the one thing I learned myself is patience, never ever rush anything dealing with this hobby. I don't understand submersible filter either. The sump with a slimmer will do fine for filtration and your live rock will actually do most of your filtering for you. I use multiple sites to get stuff from such as marinedepot and Amazon are two there's more sites than this of course. Liveaquaria is a good place to get all your live stock from if you don't have a lfs near you. Sometimes a good Google search will tell you if you have a lfs. Of course not all lfs are informational and all they care about is making a buck. So, if you feel fishy about what your lfs told you than try and confirm it on here. Fortunately I haven't had this problem. One thing I learned is never trust Petco or petsmart I have had bad experiences listening to them a lot of times they just don't have the knowledge especially with saltwater. The only thing I bought there was live sand.

Now I'm no expert but so far what I have done has had positive results. I started my tank with live sand with live rock. Got already established water from my lfs that way I knew salinity is good and don't have to worry about messing something up with that. I did a pound of sand per gallon of water really depends on how you want your sand bed though. By doing that it gave me a nice 2 inch sand bed about. I did a pound of rock per gallon of water as well. So I have 40 pounds of sand and almost 40 pounds of rock. It's like 34 pounds of rock right now. Once I put all that together I would wait about 2 weeks since you'll have a little cycle and that time would give your tank time to settle out and I get my water tested once a week and before I decide to add anything in the tank. Once your water is good you can start adding fish though be careful on how you add the fish only add a little bit then wait a couple weeks then add some more. There's more to it but really just read on here and do research all the time and you'll start learning how everything goes.

 

[aaron23]

Welcome

 

[brilayceh]

My local fish store has been my mentor. I go to him about everything and what's great is that he just wants you to be successful. There's so much where he could of made a buck but sent me else where cause it was cheaper. Really the only thing I get from him is fish. Other than that I get everything else from other places he recommends unless he can sell it to me cheaper with his discount. If it wasn't for him I prob would of been very unsuccessful. I'm very new myself and have a 40 gallon breeder that I'm about to start getting fish into.

To answer some questions the one thing I learned myself is patience, never ever rush anything dealing with this hobby. I don't understand submersible filter either. The sump with a slimmer will do fine for filtration and your live rock will actually do most of your filtering for you. I use multiple sites to get stuff from such as marinedepot and Amazon are two there's more sites than this of course. Liveaquaria is a good place to get all your live stock from if you don't have a lfs near you. Sometimes a good Google search will tell you if you have a lfs. Of course not all lfs are informational and all they care about is making a buck. So, if you feel fishy about what your lfs told you than try and confirm it on here. Fortunately I haven't had this problem. One thing I learned is never trust Petco or petsmart I have had bad experiences listening to them a lot of times they just don't have the knowledge especially with saltwater. The only thing I bought there was live sand.

Now I'm no expert but so far what I have done has had positive results. I started my tank with live sand with live rock. Got already established water from my lfs that way I knew salinity is good and don't have to worry about messing something up with that. I did a pound of sand per gallon of water really depends on how you want your sand bed though. By doing that it gave me a nice 2 inch sand bed about. I did a pound of rock per gallon of water as well. So I have 40 pounds of sand and almost 40 pounds of rock. It's like 34 pounds of rock right now. Once I put all that together I would wait about 2 weeks since you'll have a little cycle and that time would give your tank time to settle out and I get my water tested once a week and before I decide to add anything in the tank. Once your water is good you can start adding fish though be careful on how you add the fish only add a little bit then wait a couple weeks then add some more. There's more to it but really just read on here and do research all the time and you'll start learning how everything goes.

I know not to jump right into it. It's going to take me awhile to build the tank and after I get the Rock and sand I plan to wait a month or two to try to put anything else in. What I meant by "just going for it" is going big, not starting out with a small tank. I have a 55 gal freshwater tank so I'm not new to the fish thing completely, just saltwater which I know are more delicate then the freshwater. I've read that tou want your tank to be "mature" so if I have to wait half a year to make sure everything is stable enough for fish then I'll wait.
There's a saltwater store a few towns away from me I plan to visit frequently to ask questions and such, but I just wanted to make sure I have ALL the information I need before doing this. I don't want to throw a bunch of money down the drain. I also work at a pet store, not Petco or Petsmart, and one of my managers is a fish guy, he's the one I go to for all my questions about my 55 gal., but he doesn't do saltwater. He can only tell me what he's read online and such and I want to get advice from people who have actually experienced them.

And about the submerged filter thing, I don't even know what I was talking about. I was half asleep when I wrote this and I don't remember what I was trying to ask when I wrote that part. When I reread it just now I felt like an idiot because that is by no means what I wanted to ask. I know it had something to do with the sump, but not 100% sure what it was.

 

[brilayceh]

I'm not understanding this at all. What do you mean by submerged filters?

I didn't mean submerged filter. I really have no clue what I was trying to ask, I was half asleep writing this, I just remember it had something to do with the sump.

 

[Mike in CT]

Do you mean a return pump that goes in the sump?

 

[Kershaw]

Or the protein skimmer? Going big is great idea. My first tank was a 180 and it was good and bad. Good that I made mistakes that would have nuked a small tank bad because equipment is pricy. But big tanks are easier given you can catch changes in water quality before it dose to much damage. I think allot of people get discouraged when they try a nano tank off the bat. but others do great.